Jarrett jabs at Phillips in county exec race

He used to be a Republican, and State Sen. Fred Jarrett, D-Mercer Island, still sounds like one as he takes out after Democratic foes and promises to “restore a sense of fiscal discipline” to the King County Courthouse.

In the first fundraising letter of his campaign for King County Executive, Jarrett fires a salvo at King County Councilman Larry Phillips as symbol of why the county “isn’t getting the job done.”

Phillips is one of four Democratic officeholders seeking to succeed Ron Sims, who decamped to take the job of Deputy Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Obama administration. But the leader in one early poll is former KIRO-TV anchor Susan Hutchison.

Elbows are beginning to fly although the primary election is three months off.

Phillips has touted union endorsements this week. Jarrett takes a different tack, blasting “an overly-generous employee benefit program that has grown in cost from $158 million in 2005 to $214 million in 2009.”

In an interview with seattlepi.com last week, Phillips boasted: “I’ve chaired the budget committee four times, each time, it has been in crisis.”

Jarrett argues that his foe inadvertently sums up the need for change in King County government.

“For too long the county has lurched from crisis to crisis, each time ending up by kicking the can down the road rather than dealing with the real problem — an unsustainable level of spending,” writes Jarrett.

He argues that King County’s budget has climbed almost 45 percent over the last five years, while the consumer price index during the same period has increased only 16.1 percent.

Phillips and fellow King County Councilman Dow Constantine are off to an early fundraising lead. Hutchison is keeping up, and getting money from usually-Republican business sources.

Jarrett and State Rep. Ross Hunter, D-Medina, are playing catchup after a lengthy legislative session.

Phillips and Constantine are from Seattle, although Constantine’s council district embraces Vashon Island and suburban areas.

Jarrett and Hunter are from the Eastside, where Democrats have captured formerly Republican legislative seats in recent years, or persuaded moderate Republican lawmakers to switch parties.

King County Executive was a partisan job when Sims last won reelection in 2005.

It is now non-partisan. The top two primary finishers will face off in the November general election.